Virgil van Dijk names Liverpool youngster who is pushing to start as Arne Slot drops selection hint

Virgil van Dijk believes the battle to be his Liverpool centre-back partner is bringing the best out of Ibrahima Konate.

Van Dijk’s chief right-hand man so far this campaign has been Konate. The France international has started every Premier League game since replacing Jarell Quansah at half-time during the opening-day win at Ipswich Town.

Konate has looked assured next to van Dijk for the most part and scored two goals - most recently in Saturday’s 2-1 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers. The former RB Leipzig man was at fault for Wolves’ equaliser, although he has been in excellent form otherwise.

And Liverpool captain Van Dijk believes that Konate will continue to improve - and is being pushed by 21-year-old Quansah for a starting berth. Via the Reds’ club website, the Holland international said: “We need everyone to be at their best,” continued Van Dijk. “Ibou is an amazing, fantastic player who can still be better.

“He is defensively solid and was a bit unlucky with the goal that we conceded but the qualities he has, he is outstanding. He is learning and he is growing, getting better and looking after himself much better, to be ready every three days — and also he has a young player behind him in Jarell [Quansah] who is also a good one, so they keep pushing each other.”

Liverpool’s triumph at Wolves moved them top of the Premier League table. They now turn their attention to the Champions League when they face Bologna at Anfield on Wednesday.

The Reds are back in Europe’s elite competition after spending last term in the Europa League. Former manager Jurgen Klopp made wholesale changes for Europa League games in the early stages, playing fringe players and youngsters.

But Slot fielded a strong side for the 3-1 win at AC Milan two weeks ago. And after the Wolves win, he cited that the Reds struggled in 2022-23 when juggling the Premier League and Champions League as he suggested players such as Van Dijk did not get a full week of rest. That suggests the Anfield skipper along with key players such as Mo Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold are in line to start against Bologna.

Head coach Slot said: “Two years ago was the last time we played [in the] Champions League and we all know what kind of a season that was. Last season we had a much better season, but then every time Virgil and all these other players got a rest during the week and could play once a week.

“So, that's a completely different situation than playing Champions League during the week against a very tough and hard opponent and then playing Arsenal and then playing Aston Villa and then playing all these top teams that we're going to face after the next international break. For us, there's still – I've said it many times – there's a lot to prove, especially if you look back at the season two years ago and it's still almost completely the same group.”